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The only plan listed that would realistically work is Melrose's plan. Buccigross' plan is somewhat reasonable, but the expansion teams could perhaps be better laid out to avoid overloading certain areas with new teams. All of the others are absolutely ridiculous. The only realistic way to have European teams in the NHL would be to have an equal or near-equal number of teams in Europe and North America. If you are going to make the geographical swap and put Boston in the same conference as Los Angeles, the only reasonable way to do so would be a conference layout much like the NFL, with two conferences that are evenly spread across the nation and have no geographical base. My personal opinion of the best realignment plan would work as follows: Two expansion teams, in any two of the following: Seattle/Portland, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Kansas City, and Houston. Detroit moves to the east, and each conference is divided into four-team divisions. Division winners get automatic playoff spots, and the next four teams in the conference get playoff spots. Teams are seeded based on points, without any automatic seeding; the #8 seed could be a division winner.

Frolov for Versteeg and Barker is a fair deal. If Chicago won't do it without getting a d-man back, they better be prepared to add picks and/or prospects. I doubt LA is actually looking to deal Frolov, though.

Last season, Thomas faced more shots per game than Luongo did, but posted a better save percentage and GAA while posting more wins in the same number of games. The season before, he faced more shots per game, posted a better winning percentage and almost as many wins in about 20 fewer games, and a comparable GAA. Over the last two seasons, Thomas and Luongo have, at the very least, put up similar performances. Calling Luongo the best goalie in the world while saying Tim Thomas is a nobody after the past two seasons is simply an uneducated statement.

Tim Thomas won the 2009 Vezina and had a very good 2008 season also. He's at least as reasonable a pick as Luongo as he has had a higher save percentage both of the past two seasons and about as many wins in fewer games. They have comparable playoff performances over the past two seasons. Unless of course you will bring up Luongo's save percentage when you are arguing in his favor about how he is ahead of someone, but when he isn't it suddenly doesn't matter.

Convinced to play center? As I understood it he refused to play defense for any team other than Detroit.

Trade Brad Stuart for a good forward prospect Trade Lebda for a 2nd or 3rd pick. Trade Howard for a good defense prospect Then we have these lines. Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Bertuzzi Leino/Filppula/Williams Cleary/Draper/Helm Maltby Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Kindl/Lilja Meech Osgood Larsson

To paraphrase a previous post of mine; Rafalski will be here. Kronwall will be here. Ericsson will be here. That's three of your top four. The remaining spot will belong to either Lidstrom or Stuart depending on whether Lidstrom retires. If he does not, Stuart will be traded. Lilja's fate rests on his health. If he cannot return, the Wings likely acquire an inexpensive #5/6 defenseman who provides the same kind of skills, possibly as part or a Stuart trade if that occurs. Lebda will likely be gone by the start of next season. Meech will return as the 7th defenseman. Kindl will be promoted and play with Lilja/his replacement on the third pairing. Option 1: Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Kindl/Lilja (or replacement) Meech Option 2: Kronwall/Rafalski Ericsson/Stuart Kindl/Lilja (or replacement) Meech

Brodeur outplayed Luongo by a wide margin in last year's playoffs. You know, just for the record. Also, since people pretty much consider Luongo a top three goaltender because he consistently posts a high save percentage... Tim Thomas beat Luongo in wins, winning percentage, goals against average, and save percentage in both the regular season and the playoffs. Yes, Luongo faced more shots, but facing more shots than a guy with superior numbers doesn't automatically make you better. Back to the main argument; Brodeur's playoff performances have not been subpar for years. Only three times since the Devils won the Cup in 2000 has Brodeur posted a playoff sv% under .916. In that same period, he has gone 48-44 in the postseason with two finals appearances and one Cup win. His sv% has also been over .925 three times during that period.

Martin Brodeur. Luongo is a good goalie...but he doesn't really separate himself from guys like Backstrom, Lundqvist, Miller, or Vokoun. Brodeur is still the best goalie in the league, and is one of the ten best players in the NHL.

We can keep Cloutier one of two ways. 1. Cloutier outplays Howard enough to make the team as backup, leaving Howard to either be traded, or waived and either picked up by another team or fight for a GR spot. 2. Cloutier outplays Howard, earns a two-way deal, but Holland and Babs decide to give the kid a shot and waive Clouts, sending him to the minors, possibly even Toledo. Cloutier playing for Toledo would also make him an easy injury call-up if Howie or Ozzie were injured in practice while Grand Rapids was on a long road trip and Detroit was playing a home game. The most likely outcome is that Cloutier earns a look from another team that doesn't have a solid backup and would be interested in a guy who would probably sign for the league minimum. I'm looking at you Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Vancouver and maybe a couple others.

Well, hypothetically you could LOL into a facepalm...

Come Talk to Me - Peter Gabriel

Hudler fighting through defenders for scoring opportunity Hmm, what's this? Hey, this is fun! Anyone else want to say Hudler didn't battle in the corners or go to the net both with and without the puck?

People complained all the time about Jiri Hudler losing battles in the corner for the pucks to bigger players, or about how he would just get knocked off the puck in front of the net by big strong defenders. Now... how does that exactly happen if he's not mucking in the corners or going to the net? It's a mystery, I suppose.

Spezza, Heatley, Lecavalier, St. Louis, Toews, Phaneuf, Staal, and Gaborik all make my Tier 3 list. Beyond that I have Tier 4 and then it breaks down into "Top six forwards" "Top four defensemen" and "Starting goaltenders." I've always though Nash was a bit overrated. He's got a good touch for scoring goals, but is a terrible playmaker and one of the worst defensive forwards to play a major role for his team. If Nash could improve his defensive game to match the kind of defense played by perhaps a Samuelsson or Langkow, he would be a much more complete player and would go from being a highly skilled goal scorer to a solid two-way player. If he could develop his defensive game to the level of a guy like Craig Conroy or Dan Cleary? He'd be one of the league's elite two-way players and a Hart contender. Nash has been slowing improving his defense, but he needs to work harder at it because that will show guys like Huselius and such on the Jackets that you have to work at your weaknesses if you want to win. Mitchell and Ohlund I assume were there as jokes, as Mitchell has never been better than a #3 defenseman in his life and Ohlund, while he was once one of the ten or fifteen best defenseman and arguably the best defensive defenseman in the NHL, is now a #2-3 defenseman, although still very good defensively.

Toews is definitely in the mold of those two...but he's a year or maybe two away from that level. He'll be a top 5 or 6 center in the league at that point, and he'll be there for a while. Kane, however, is an overrated prima donna with good scoring skills and some speed, but no interest in improving the rest of his game. He'll be a good player but never a top player. Heatley is the same way. Very good player, but his attitude and the fact he really only possesses one skill, which he is very good at, pushes him down the list. Heater's not an elite hockey player. Very good, yes. Elite? Not now, and at no time before. He had the potential to be so, but his refusal to improve his weaknesses shut that down. Heatley could have had a Hart by now if he had improved the other areas of his game. Instead he's a prima donna who feels the rest of the team is around to take care of his mistakes, and thinks he has been the best player on every team he's been on when in reality he hasn't been so even once in his career.

Although it's off topic, I'll still respond to this. If Jiri Hudler were on the roster this year, that would be awesome. I think the chances of it happening is less than 5%... but it would still be awesome assuming the Wings . The current forward lines are expected to be: Franzen/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Cleary/Zetterberg/Bertuzzi Leino/Filppula/Williams Eaves/Draper/Maltby Helm (injured) Hudler returning this year certainly throws a wrench into that by putting the Wings over the cap by about $2m (with Eaves sent down and Lilja on LTIR) which would require a little bit of roster modification. Below is possible roster modification which might work. At least to start the season, the NHL roster to keep Hudler and Filppula would look as such if trades were minimized and no NTC players were dealt. F: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Franzen/Hudler/Filppula/Bertuzzi/Cleary/Williams/Holmstrom/Draper/Ritola/Eaves. 37 year old, last year of his contract Maltby would be waived and sent to GR to make this work, and may or may not come back up depending on how the season goes. D: Lidstrom/Rafalski/Kronwall/Stuart/Ericsson/Meech. Lebda would be traded and Lilja would be on LTIR. Another situation that might have to be revisited in the future depending on Lilja's status. G: Osgood/???. This would mean that Howard either was out of the organization or went back to Grand Rapids and Cloutier or another vet (Marc Denis anyone?) was signed at the league minimum. Lines to start might be: Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen Cleary/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Bertuzzi/Filppula/Williams Ritola/Draper/Eaves This roster for the first few weeks or even month would still do quite well. If any players were to get injured, the Wings could then work guys like Helm and Leino into their proper spots on the roster. I know it's kind of convoluted, but one option are trading Stuart and deciding whether to put Kindl or Delmore on the roster as a replacement to be sent down when or if Lilja returns. Another option is to deal Holmstrom and send Eaves down, going with 12 forwards and 7 defensemen. Of course, this is all hypothetical as Hudler almost certainly will NOT be in a Wings uniform this season.

Dropping the gloves does not equal tough. Tough is about working had, mucking it up in the corners, going to the net, not being intimidated by physical play. Yes, goons count as tough. But fighting and toughness are not the same thing. Jiri Hudler is tough. Theo Fleury is tough. Mike Comrie is tough. Yes, the effectiveness of all three is considerably lessenned by strong physical defense. But the fact that none of the three are intimidated by such defense, and all three go into the corners and to the net makes them tough despite their size. That is toughness. Not betting your face that your fists are better than the other guys.

So his opinion doesn't count because he likes Hossa and you don't? Or is it his opinion doesn't count because you disagree with it? For the record, you don't have to play hockey to be knowledgable about hockey. Anyone who uses that argument to try and discredit someone else, such as yourself, most likely has no other argument to resort to in the discussion.

Kind of like how it was scientifically proven that the Earth is at the center of the Universe?

You think Perry is offensively capable, a great agitator, and is also one of the league's elite defensive forwards? Not a chance. He might have the first two, but he's not even on the same planet as the third.

I couldn't help but notice people complaining about Meech. Just for accuracy, anyone who says "Meech has been terrible all preseason" is wrong, as Meech was the first star against Philadelphia without actually scoring a point. In the game against New York, Meech may have made a glaring turnover, but was involved in the play on Williams' goal also. As for the "Lebda is so much better" talk; Lebda screened Osgood so he couldn't see Ansimov's wrist shot on New York's first goal. Hard to argue that being any better than turning the puck over.

Great Danes. Marmaduke just wouldn't be as funny as a Doberman. Vernors ginger ale or Calders chocolate milk?

The Bruins would have matched the $5.4m contract Kessel just signed if Burke had put it out as an offer sheet? Zetts is right...Burke effectively traded a first for a third because he didn't want to put out an offer sheet.

"Skilled tough teams" is not the same as "Teams with some skill and some guys that fight" unless you think that fighting is a direct indicator of toughness, and the way to measure a player's toughness is by his fighting ability and his frequency if fighting. Skilled tough teams have always been the ones who have had success. The Red Wings and Penguins of the past two seasons are a prime example of this. Both teams boasted quite a bit of skill, neither team really had much in the way of fighters, but both team was comprised primarily if not completely of players who worked hard and would grind for pucks in the corner and in front of the net, regardless of size. Players who played through minor injuries and shook off slashes and cross checks from opposing players. That, not fighting, is what toughness is. Toughness is about doing what it takes to win, not about sitting on the bench for around 45 minutes a game and in the penalty box for five because your only skill is punching the guy on the other team who plays five minutes a game and whose only skill is punching you. Now, back to the topic. Phil Kessel will probably help the Leafs over what they had on the roster, in that Finger probably would have been waived or traded regardless, and Van Ryn was likely on his way out also. The Kessel deal just solidifies those situations. The Leafs probably will get back at very least one early round pick when clearing up their defensive logjam, assuming Burke doesn't f*** his s*** up.